Introduction
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide guidance on which vintage Grand Seiko auctions on Yahoo Japan might be of interest to collectors. I also detail those “dodgy” listings that you need to avoid.
What you will notice is that this isn’t just a simple list of auction listings - in discussing the merits (and demerits) of the listings I often branch off into a bit of background that I hope will be useful in helping you to learn some of the nuances of collecting vintage Grand Seiko.
For those paid subscribers who are reading one of these newsletters for the first time, you can access the archive of all the previous newsletters on the Substack website (or the iPhone and Android apps).
Going forward, I will be unlocking these newsletters a week after sending them out to paid subscribers. The main benefit is of course alerting paid subs to the auctions that they might be interested in bidding on (and avoiding), but I feel the educational value post-close of the auctions is only fair to share to all.
Important note for UK and EEA subscribers -
Yahoo Japan is now actively blocking connections from the UK and the European Economic Area due to the prohibitive costs of adhering to the GDPR regulations for a relatively small number of users.
To get around this for the purposes of this newsletter, links to the auctions detailed will be provided through one of the Japanese proxy companies - FromJapan.
Whilst I have been a customer of FromJapan for many years, I do not receive any benefits from using these links.
Jason Bourne
Grand Seiko 4420-9000 late dial
First up this week is YALDFFGS (yet another late dial 44GS!).
I honestly don’t know where all these are coming from lately - there have been rather a lot surfacing in the last month or so. You do need to examine these really closely though. This one is a pretty good example, but there are some stains on the dial that are quite hard to see in the photos - these could well look worse in different lighting.
The functionality of mouse-over zoom that is back on Yahoo Japan comes in very handy here, as seen in the above screenshot. Obviously this is a problem for readers in Europe, where direct access to Yahoo Japan is blocked (hence the links I use are to a proxy site), but if you are still relying on a proxy site to view the auctions, perhaps this would be a good incentive to fire up a VPN so you can view directly.
Apart from the relatively minor dial issues, this one looks to be in great condition with a nice crisp case (I’m not going to make any claims for it being unpolished, but it certainly is unreconditioned). Worth taking a close look at if you’re after one of these.
The latest run of late dial 44GS’s only goes to show just how much rarer the early dial variant is. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen one that got me excited, but watch this space on that subject…
Grand Seiko 5722-9990 transitional
The final dial variant of the 57GS, where the Chronometer text is dropped from the dial, is arguably the least collectible of all the stainless steel cased watches from the series.
When the dial turns up in the earlier 5722-9990 case, its desirability probably drops even further, but this is such a nice example, it was a no-brainer to include this week.
At the end of the day with the 57GS variants, I’d always say that condition and correctness trumps rarity every time. I’d take a great condition transitional Diashock dialed 5722-9990 like the one featured here, over a highly polished 43999 SD dial with the wrong crown.
It also gives you the opportunity to build up a great little sub-collection of three generations of vintage Grand Seikos all with the same dial layout (the 57GS seen here, the 44GS early dial, and the 62GS).
All three can be seen featured together in the second Seiko catalogue from 1968 -
From the research I’ve carried out so far on the 57GS variants, all examples of watches with this later dial, but with the earlier 5722-9990 caseback, feature the 5722B movement, and all but one (I currently have records of 20 watches - plenty more still to be categorized!) have the fine knurled crown as seen here.
They were seemingly produced in this configuration for about a year, commencing in December 1965, and running through until December 1966. All have movement numbers in the 07x to 08x range.
So, I’m pretty confident in stating that this watch is absolutely correct in every way. The dial is overall in very good condition (although do take note of the stain at the edge of the dial stretching around the 10 o’clock index), and with a case about as sharp as you could hope to come across, it comes highly recommended.
It will also be a bargain, because so few people are after one of these!
The first Grand Seiko with raised logo dial
Just a great honest example of the raised logo dialed first Grand Seiko, with the highlight being the particularly clean dial, with the well defined lugs coming in a close second.
Always a risk of course with these - take into consideration when bidding that it will almost certainly need a full service.
Seiko Liner Chonometer box, papers, tags
I’m including this one because although it’s not strictly a Grand Seiko box and papers, the Chonometer booklet, box, and red swing tag are common between the Liner Chonometer and the 57GS.
Obviously if you were interested in the lot for a 57GS, the certificate, price ticket, and Liner manual won’t be of any use. Arguably the certificate wouldn’t really be of any use to anyone (is there any point to having a watch with a non-matching numbers certificate?).
Bidding is over 65K on this one already - it will be interesting to see how high it goes, because as discussed in earlier newsletters, boxes and papers are fetching big money these days.
Grand Seiko 4420-9000 late dial
Yup, another one…
This time from the seller who only ever posts four photos of the watch, so you have to take quite a bit of risk on board with this one. There seems to be only some light staining on the dial, and the case is certainly looking pretty sharp.
Fortune favours the brave, as the old saying goes - I think whoever wins this one may well be very pleased indeed once the watch arrives. If you do win it, do start a thread in the chat to let us know how it turned out!
Grand Seiko 4420-9000 late dial
And another!
Just including this one for completeness sake, but the case is nowhere near as nice as the ones on the other two.
Grand Seiko 6185-8021 VFA
Not the sole VFA this week.
Even with the badly scratched up crystal, this will still garner a lot of interest I’m sure.
One of these days I’ll find the time to look deeper into the “no tick at 15” dial, but I do not doubt for a moment that it’s completely legitimate. As always though - read the description carefully before bidding, because the seller describes this as “not working”.
A non-functioning VFA would honestly be more trouble than its worth. Where are you going to get any needed parts from, given Grand Seiko never provided them to third parties back in the day? Grand Seiko in Japan will service vintage VFA’s (in fact, they’ll service any vintage piece), but whether or not they could bring a dead one back to life, I simply do not know.
If you do decide to take the plunge and end up winning this one, and want a replacement sapphire crystal (cut to exactly the same profile as the original), do let me know and I’ll be happy to pop one in the post to you gratis.
Box for a 56GS on a bracelet
For the box collectors out there, if you have a 56GS on a steel bracelet, this is the box for you! Note however that this is not the correct box for the 564x-8000 in 18K gold.
These don’t turn up very frequently, so expect the bidding to be quite competitive on this lot.
Grand Seiko 4520-8010
This one started with a minimum bid of 438,800 Yen, and rather oddly, someone didn’t wait until the last minute to place their bid.
Not only that, but they got outbid.
I find this a little odd, given the very poor presentation of the watch, and the fact it’s clearly a long way from mint, but I’m not going to complain - as I’ve said many times before, I think this is a criminally undervalued watch.
The presentation is so poor, that the seller didn’t even make it particularly clear that it comes with its original 18K buckle.
Grand Seiko 6186-8000 VFA blue dial
The second of this week’s VFA’s doesn’t have any bids yet, which is why it’s the last watch to be featured.
I’m somewhat wary of this listing as well, because that crystal is so scratched up, it’s close to impossible to properly assess the condition of the dial.
Considering the state of the crystal, the case looks to be in very good condition.
If you’re one of the people considering this (it has a minimum starting price of 700,000 Yen, and there are 24 registered users of Yahoo Japan currently watching the auction), then please do be very careful to assess the condition of the dial as best you can. Possibly there are enough photos from different angles to use parallax to workout what’s on the crystal and what - if anything - is on the dial, but there is a lot to check!
As with the 6185-8021 above, in the description the seller states the watch is not working.
And as with the earlier VFA, the offer of a free replacement sapphire crystal applies to this listing too, should a paid subscriber win it.
A Grand Seiko 6246-9001 in stainless steel with the rare -9010 dial… from me!
Sometime over the weekend I will be doing a separate post for this Grand Seiko 6246-9001 in stainless steel with the extremely rare -9010 dial - I didn’t want to clutter up your inboxes with publishing the sales newsletter for it today.
I’ve posted it on my Instagram account already, so you can check the full video of the watch over there.
The price will be a very reasonable $2,500, with the usual benefits (inclusive of a full service prior to despatch, fully insured worldwide courier shipping, and 10% off for paid subscribers if ordered in the first week of the newsletter going out).
If you want to get ahead of the game and purchase it, no need to wait for the sales newsletter to come out - drop me a mail.
The Asset
Grand Seiko 5722-9970
Last week was remarkable in that there were no bad guys to highlight. This week, it’s back to normal with the usual watches from the usual suspects!
The dial on this one has been redone better than many (has “someone” been paying attention to my highlighting of how the dial code should be spaced relative to the minute ticks I wonder?), but it’s redone, so avoid.
Grand Seiko 5722-9990
Yup, he’s back alright. Another one to avoid.
Grand Seiko 4420-9000 early dial
Perhaps some would argue it’s a little unfair to place this one with the bad guys, and I suspect quite a few people will be tempted to chase it, but there’s just too many issues for my liking.
The most obvious “error” is the wrong crown (which the description states comes off easily!), and there is some slight staining on the periphery of the dial on the right hand side.
Very possibly people will be looking at this one as a “fixer-upper”, and with the right effort it could be improved considerably. I’m more than a little suspicious though about how anyone could gouge the dial that severely without apparently marking the case at all - maybe that accident was behind the loss of the original crown?!
As regular readers will know, I’ve been spoilt on this reference with having what is still to-date the best example I’ve ever seen pass through my hands, and perhaps I could be accused of being a little hyper-critical of sub-par examples of the early dialed 44GS.
It’s been a long time since one has turned up that I felt compelled to purchase, but as hinted at in the commentary on the later dialed 44GS in the good guy’s section this week, that itch has been scratched recently, and I might have something to share in a few days…
Grand Seiko 4520-7010
“I can't decide with certainty whether the dial is redone or original...”
We can though!
Grand Seiko 6146-8000
Here’s a listing that I’ve had my eye on for months.
Clearly it’s a “frankenstein”, with the dial and handset from the 6146-8020 somehow finding its way into a horrendously over-polished 6146-8000 case, but there is just something about that dial patination that always appealed to me.
As mentioned, it’s been listed for literally months at a kinda crazy - considering the overall state of the thing - minimum bid price of 118,000 yen, but for some reason, someone has decided to bid on it this week.
Weird.
Redone coloured dial summary
… I close with the usual reminder to steer clear of any vintage Grand Seikos with coloured dials similar to the above. This is not a comprehensive photo - there are many references that get this “treatment”, and there are many listed this week, so be careful!
I don’t get the apparent undesirability of the diashock dial 57gs. There are 3 chronometer dials but only 1 diashock :) and it lets you complete the original trio as mentioned!
Disgusting VFA’s
IMO the only 6185 8021 worth chasing in any condition is the transitional dial from Gerald’s 3yr old video